Experimentation
by Phoenix2qt
Summary: One more into Hojos laboratory, where beasts snarl in cages, blood bubbles in beakers, acids corrode flesh and a young woman is trapped, the specimen for Hojo's latest experiment.
1. The Specimen

So bright.

It hurt to see. Her vision blurred with the tears that sprang to her pained eyes. They glimmered behind the glassy globules, once blue, now a deep grassy green. Her grandfather had called them her pixie eyes. But he was long gone. Her hair straggled, irritating her further. It stuck to the sheen of sweat filming her face. It poked into her mouth, her nose, and her eyes. The ringlets agitated. Her hands were shackled behind her back, and in turn fixed to a long chain dangling from the ceiling. Her legs, strapped to the floor. She was permanently held in a kneeling position, her body hanging forward. The pain shooting through her arms long since dulled to a numbness that proved even more annoying. Her hands were bruised, her feet were swollen. She had tried to escape, but had been dragged back and beaten with metal cables. They had sliced into her skin.

She lifted her weighty head, feeling her neck groan its complaint, surveying her surroundings with heavy hooded eyes. Her skin was pale; lack of sunlight, lack of fresh air had given her an invalid's pallor. Red rings around her eyes stood out like fresh blood in the snow. Her lips chapped and blue. There was a shadowy figure in the corner. She pulled her sore lips back into a snarl, feeling the skin stretch, almost like it was going to tear off. The tightness of anger rising in her chest. All at once it abated, leaving her numb once more. The shadowy figure in the corner was no more than a corpse. The putrid stench from its rotting flesh, had been torturing her nostrils for the past couple of days. She hung her head again, noting that her clothes were gone. No wonder the air felt so cold, she was dressed in a surgical gown, the back gaping open to reveal her knobbly spine, the paper underwear more commonly used in hospitals.

This however was no hospital.

A laboratory. Hidden deep within the heart of the city. In the neighbourhood known as the rats nest. Where the criminals and scum congregated. Where the most hardened diabolical scientific genius was rumoured to reside. Except she could testify that the rumours were true. Unfortunately, she knew she wouldn't get out of this institution alive. She thought of her family, her friends. The job she loved. She wondered if they were okay. If they were remembering to water her plants. Mundane things clouded her mind, taking it away from her present surroundings. In her darkest moments of depression she bitterly wondered if they had even noticed she was gone. Of course, she reasoned with herself, they must have noticed. The people at work would have noticed she was gone. It was an important position. Her family would have worried that she hadn't gotten in contact with them for a while. She usually called her parents a few times a week. Just to catch up on the gossip in her small town. Her friends… well they would miss her. Or she hoped they would. In her gloomiest hour, she imagined them all celebrating her demise. That was nearly enough to make her give up entirely.

But she didn't. She fought with the strength left in her body. When they came to inject her with the stinging, burning potions. The cocktails of drugs, she lashed out as best she could. She cursed them all, baring her teeth like a wild animal. Meek attempts, weak attempts. But still, she wasn't going down without some sort of resistance. More often than not she earned a beating. Whipped with all sorts of instruments, a cane, a metal bar, whatever came to hand. Bruises mottled her body, the purple oozing into the whiteness. Blood spatter on the floor, dried from past beatings. She tried not to scream in pain. Summoned all her army training, all her past experiences to stop her from crying. Why should she give them the satisfaction?

He studied her from the tiny observation window, mounted in heavy steel door. The glass was bullet proof, and had fine wire mesh inserted inside, which would be electrified when the glass was broken. Escape through busting down the door would be impossible. She still had a look of defiance in her eyes. He studied the notes clipped to the plastic peg, next to her name. How did she do it? How could this weak female experiment, resist the strains of Chaos implanted deep within her? By now she should be transforming, shedding her skin and changing into a beast. A wild animal that he would control, that he could wield like a weapon. He planned to unleash her on the citizens, to inspire terror and fear in this time of calm. In this time of boredom. Of course, he couldn't very well do that now. She was pathetic. Barely clinging to life. Then again, considering her genetics, it was hardly surprising.

He walked along the white, sparkling corridors of his domain, lost in thought. Remembering the past, his scientific research dating back well over forty years. To the one man who had confused the hell out of him. The man who had proved all his experimentation with human genetics and Chaos/Jenova extracts wrong. Well not wrong, obviously the man was a freak. Jenova was able to meld with humans . . . but why it did not combine with that particular man was a mystery. A mystery he hoped to solve with the granddaughter. If she lived that long.


	2. Cocktail Waiter

Phials of deep red blood lined the walls. Samples from the monstrous beasts that slept in gleaming cages beneath the foundations of the laboratory. He walked around the simple room, taking first one phial and then another. Placing them gently on a metal tray he carried in his palm. He felt ridiculously like some sort of waiter. "Here are your drinks miss" he said it aloud sniggering slightly as the sound bounced off the concrete walls and reverberated around his head. He studied the white labels he had stuck to every bottle, the monsters name, blood type and the strains of mutant cells it had been infected with, stared out at him in bold black text. He had gathered monsters from all corners of the globe, even the unknown areas to research and utilise in his quest for the most perfect of all beasts. One with ultimate destructive power. Since Jenova had been defeated he had strived to find something to take her place, using the few samples saved from his old laboratory. He even had some samples left from his; he shuddered as he thought the word, Son.

Sephiroth had been a failure worse than Cloud Strife. Of course he had come so close to destroying the whole world with the black materia and Meteor. But just like in a fairy tale he had succumbed to the "heroes". Hojo snorted as he considered this. He had no time for whimsical thoughts of fairy tales. From a technical point of view Sephiroth was feeble, his human flesh, although it had mutated into the two rather impressive forms for the final battle, was weak and fragile. He was susceptible to the human condition, suffering illness and death. Hojo needed something that would be immortal, or at least immune and armoured.

He had researched into life extensions, putting his victims in suspended animation and filling them with potions and mixtures. When they awoke they aged slower, on average it took those experimental victims three years to age one year. An exciting discovery but it entailed expensive equipment, lots of mixing and fumbling around with potions and time… it took on average 10 years for the potions to work and the sleep to become effective. He could just infect them all with Jenova like he himself was, but that had drawbacks of its own. Jenova samples were rare, and his research into creating artificial Jenova was going slowly. It was hard to emulate something as mystical and as full of magic as an ancient. At this he had to laugh. He had once told Sephiroth off for using the term a mystical power to describe materia. He believed in science, there was no such thing as magic. Everything had a logical and reasonable explanation.


	3. A development

Assistants scuttled around her, prodding her with the ends of their blue biros, just to check she was still conscious and alive. She snapped at them, feeling the painful clicking of her teeth slamming together, the enamel gritty from days without brushing. Her jaw ached from constantly snarling and snapping. One of them, a bulky female actually laughed. Normally they were silent or talked in whispers about her condition, noting the way her ribs protruded, the way her stomach was now concave. Her breasts had shrunk, the sudden weight loss making them sag against her chest, her collarbone sharp, the skin taut over it. Her hair had started to fall out in clumps, ringlets now dull and brittle covered the floor like a carpet, and they itched her knees as they pricked at the skin. The bulky female announced to the others that they needed to examine her more thoroughly to see if the potions had taken effect yet, whether Chaos was residing inside her waiting to change her into a monster. She could barely comprehend the woman's course accent, merely noted her authoritive tone and assumed she was the leader of this particular team of assistants.

With one swift motion the chain holding her arms up in that painful position fell about her head, the heavy links slamming into her skull with a loud rattle and crash. Her head hit the floor with a sickening thud as she fell forward, blood seeping from a split on her scalp. She heard the assistants titter as she was lifted up, the straps being released from her legs. Only her hands remained tied behind her. Flashes from a camera went off in her face as they documented her condition. The knobbly knees thick with scabs from insect bites, the bony legs, skin sagging slightly. She looked like a famine victim. Her eyes were too big for her face, glowing a deep steel grey, tinged with green. Her hair straggled in areas, most of her scalp was bald, or stubbly, big red bumps indicating ingrown hairs that throbbed and itched so irritatingly. She swayed heavily in the cold breeze as they whispered, poked and prodded. She almost wished she was dead; the pain in her joints unbearable, pins and needles shooting up and down her legs and arms. Her neck cracked as one of the assistants cupped her chin in his broad palm, the warmth of his touch such a shock that she stumbled backwards. The other assistants had hands as cold as doctors. This one was different, and he didn't wear gloves.

They led her down the corridor, her progress slow and unsteady. She leaned heavily on the wall as one of the assistants continued to pull on her. She tried to form words to speak, but her throat was dry, her tongue felt twenty times bigger than usual, like it was clogging her mouth. They ended up dragging her into a large room, a metal mortuary slab in the centre. The warm handed assistant lifted her up, placing her on the slab.

"There's no need to tie her down surely? She's so weak"

"Pitiful isn't it? But orders are orders; specimens have to be restrained just in case."

"In case of what?"

"You haven't worked for Professor Hojo before have you?" the head assistant tied the straps over her ankles. "Just be silent and tie her arm restraints"

"Yes ma'am" The warm handed man discreetly patted her as he fastened her restraints. She could see from his eyes that he pitied her. How unlike an assistant to feel anything for their specimens. She didn't know whether to be grateful or angry, so contented herself with studying her surroundings as they probed her poor aching body.

"Summon Professor Hojo at once" the cold, wandering hands had settled on her abdomen. "Tell him there's been a development".


	4. Examination

The professor was looking into tanks of noxious fluids when the assistant reached him. Three giant glass tanks sat flush against the corridor of the institution, one filled with green mako solution, one with a concentrated mixture of mako acid which glowed an eerie blue. The last was red, an unknown substance made from a compound mined in Cosmo canyon. In each tank the corpse of a human floated, suspended in the middle by slender wires coated in anti corrosive potions. They jiggled about, their flesh clumped and rotting; the presence of white foam on their damaged tissue indicating the acid was slowly burning them into nothingness. They reminded the assistant of a toy he had purchased earlier that day. His young daughter had spotted it in a shop and had been bugging him for it for days and days. It was called an aqua pet, and was suspended in a tiny bubble dome of water by clear plastic string. You pushed a button and it danced, it reacted to light and sound making chirping noises as if it was alive. Strange how something so innocent and light-hearted could be called to mind when looking at these poor creatures.

Hojo was rapping his biro against his teeth, the clicking noise coupled with his heavy breathing sent chills down the assistant's spine. He had heard tales of what this man did to the unfortunate members of staff that displeased him, and interrupting him during his moments of reflection and thought was tantamount to sacrilege. Derailing his train of thought was dangerous; many assistants had been fed to beasts for halting his plans, schemes and inventions. The assistant gulped nervously.

"Excuse me sir" his voice echoed off the shiny glass and came out as a shrill squeak past his dry lips. Hojo made no answer, merely continued staring at the middle tank, his eyes lost in thought.

"Sir!" the assistant tried again, his voice regulated into a more manly tone. Hojo turned to see him, the green eyes glinting coldly. It was like looking at a predator, seconds before it leaped on its unsuspecting prey.

"Have I not made it excruciatingly clear that I must NOT be disturbed during my private time?" Hojo shuffled towards him with that queer lolloping gait he had. The stench of putrid flesh mingled with the tang of his aftershave.

"I know sir; I'm sorry sir but…"

"I don't care!" Hojo's eyes flashed with annoyance, his tone becoming short and snappy, and his teeth bared revealing sharp, glinting fangs.

"Sir, the female experiment… there are some developments that Miss Harper feels you should see." The assistant quivered slightly, he held his hands behind his back, head slightly up, gaze fixed straight ahead like a soldier standing to attention.

"Developments…" the voice was more thoughtful now, "very well." He began to shuffle off, and as he exited the room, the poor man let out a sigh of relief. This job was becoming way too stressful, perhaps it was time to follow his father's advice, and take a job in the family firm. He looked up at the tanks glowing there, each body rotting, trapped there until they disintegrated. As he examined closer he saw a worn metal badge at the bottom of the tank, bubbles bursting from it. Blackened and bent almost beyond recognition. It was the institution name tag. These people had been his previous assistants. He would not end up like these poor unfortunates; he would take the place offered to him in his family's business. He would become a... piano tuner.

The gaggle of people left the room quietly and quickly as their boss entered. He snapped on the thick latex gloves, they hung in a pouch by the door. Miss Harper, the bulky woman, handed him the clipboard of notes she had taken and respectfully with her head bowed removed herself from his presence. Hojo preferred to work alone mostly, examining, operating and torturing the specimens by himself, taking pleasure in his solitary tasks. He studied the notes, tutting a little at the irregular scrawl of his lackey. He insisted that all notes be written in block capitals so they could be understood and also when they were scanned into the database, the computer could read them.

Miss Harper, he noted on his tiny black notebook, she would be the latest meal for his precious pets. She had been irritating him in small ways for a while, and had proved on more than one occasion how inept she was for the job. She scribbled notes, she laughed like a man, and she had an annoying habit of constantly bothering him about her menstrual cycle and her problems with her unruly flatmate. She claimed to suffer from insomnia and was shaky with equipment, slicing into the wrong places with simple scalpels. She had killed two of his beasts by misreading his notes and feeding them the wrong specially formulated meal pills. Yes, well now she would be dinner for the remaining monsters in the basement. Imagining the possibilities her flesh held for him and his arrangement of potions, he allowed himself to sink into thought.

She lay there, feeling even more exposed than normal. Hojo was just standing there, she could sense him. He didn't move, didn't reach out to start probing her. What was he playing at? Usually he would have been running his latex gloved hands over her body, checking for abnormalities, lumps or other indicators. She thought he would have at least checked her stomach. That's where the head assistant had hovered over, digging her hands into the taut skin, kneading it, pummelling it and finally drawing on it with a tickly brush pen. If she stretched her neck and hoisted her head up she could see the red marks scribbled on her body. They weren't legible to her, upside down as they were. They looked disturbingly like dotted lines, perhaps they were gonna cut her open.

He glanced at her again; Miss Harper had extended her bad handwriting to the body of the specimen. The pale skin had been marred by some sort of felt tip. It looked, in short, like a small child had wandered in, and instead of scribbling on the walls, had chosen the clean slate of a stomach. Arrows pointed at a patch just above her bellybutton. Notes looped around her midriff disfigured by the goose bumps that were rising on her skin in reaction to the chill of the room. He shook his head and put down the clipboard, the screech of metal on metal making her shudder.

"I can't understand this writing" his voice broke the silence and she quivered, once more her throat dry, her tongue seemed to weld to the roof of her mouth rendering her speechless. He moved away and clattered around in a cupboard. She tensed fearing something sharp, a knife, scalpel… or even worse. Hojo had been known to slice into his victims with unorthodox weapons to gauge the reactions of his potions on different wounds. Noises of chainsaws and circular saws had reverberated down corridors, the screaming of victims as their limbs were hacked off. She shivered once more, feeling cold sweat on her brow.

He pulled out the squirty bottle, and filled it with some liquid soap and water. Walking to the slab he spritzed it on her abdomen. She jumped, the muscles beneath her skin twitching with surprise. He wiped away the red marks with a coarse cloth. Tossing them to the side he began to poke and prod away at the area, seriousness on his face she had never seen before. She wriggled in discomfort as he poked at a tender area, and was rewarded with a slap to her thigh. The stinging sensation warned her to stay still, and she obeyed, even when his hands began to probe other more intimate areas. A grin reached his face, curving his mouth into a sick satanic smile. It did not reach his eyes however; they remained as cold and as impassive as glass.

What did he see that made him smirk so?

Her skin was flaking. It peeled away like a new layer of paint separates from the old one. The white, greasy sheen giving way to a bruised deep purple. It was almost indistinguishable from the injuries he had previously given her, unless you were well acquainted with beasts and the texture and tonal range of their hide. He brushed the skin flecks away; it was a patch of about the same size as a one Gil coin. Small but significant nonetheless. It meant that the latest courses of drugs were working, that the amazing cocktail of extracts, potions and concentrates were breaking down her body's defences. He pulled out a scalpel from his left breast pocket, using it to scrap away samples of both skin types, eclipsing them in glass slides for study under his microscope later. The new hide held more elasticity, and seemed to be smoother and thicker than her old skin. Writing notes down, he considered the implications these minor discoveries meant.

What was he doing down there? Why was he constantly caressing the same tiny patch on her stomach? She tried to crane her neck, to see what he was doing, but earned a stinging slap to the jaw that cracked her head to one side painfully. Now he paced just beyond the tips of her feet, scribbling away, the pen scratching loudly on the paper. More tests? More injections of burning fluid that caused her to lose her vision for hours at a time as her head pounded and her lungs constricted making her gasp for breath and jerk at the end of her bonds. Perhaps he was recommending more potions that would freeze her skin, turning it blue and stiff with ice, the cold permeating her joints, making them lock into position tingling and spasming until she wanted to lie down and die.

"It is time to see how far the change has gone" His voice broke the silence and intruded on her fearful thoughts. He was talking into the phone usually slung around his hip. The type reserved for hospitals, which did not interfere with life saving or rather in this case life threatening equipment. The crackling buzzes of a reply she could not decipher and the click of the phone being replaced in its holder. In a second he was at her head smiling that strange semi smile he often wore while he pored over his reports from the past, remembering experiments that had been huge successes. The healing potions he had created for Shinra, the advanced medical kits carried by Soldier into battle. The beasts he had formed from rudimentary DNA that guarded Shinra tower. The men he had strengthened with his use of Mako power and his advanced knowledge of Jenova and mutations. Her bonds were ripped off, a mask slipped over her mouth, and the squeak of a tap connected to a gas bottle as it turned on. The world around her shimmered at the edges, gradually growing darker as she looked into his face. The last thing she saw before she went to sleep was that grin.


	5. More Developments

His favourite part of any experiment.

He almost danced around the table as he smoothed the vile, yellow antiseptic lotion on her abdomen. It made her stomach look jaundiced. He carefully laid out the equipment, making sure the machines were functioning properly and that his scalpel was clean and sharp. He loved that scalpel, it was the first one he had ever had, he had gotten it just before he started medical school, and it had seen him through many operations and autopsies.

Holding his breath, he began to slice into the skin, watching in fascination as the crimson line bloomed through the sallow membrane. He loved watching the skin sever underneath his scalpel, peeling it back to reveal the layer of fat, severely diminished due to the malnutrition, and then the glistening pulsating organs beneath. The intestines, liver, stomach, spleen, and pancreas. The heart and lungs… he longed to plunge his hands right in and mix them up feeling the oozing slick warmth around the latex. But he couldn't do that with this specimen. He needed to keep her alive.

The heart, beating slowly, blood oozing around the body, was showing signs of changing. Thick muscular tissue was surrounding it, enlarging the muscle and changing its shape. It was blackening; this discovery caused a smile to play about Hojo's thin lips. It was his trademark. All his experiments had black hearts, the beasts, and the white trash assistants he injected with his date rape serums… all of them. He had once given them tattoos, but they bore them like some sort of badge of honour, of courage. "I survived at the hands of Hojo" sort of thing. They were supposed to degrade them, to demote them to no more than cattle. He had toyed with the idea of branding... but had come to the same conclusion as the tattoos. At least with this internal "mark" they couldn't flaunt it all over the place.

He sighed heavily, making the mask over his face bobble with his breath. It looked like the flaking skin was mirrored on the organs too. The healthy pink colour they usually were was being replaced with a thicker darker membrane. Purplish black, the colour of slate, it mottled the lungs making them look like they belonged to a chain smoker. He noted the changes, speaking into the microphone hidden beneath the surgical mask, the wire snaking under his surgical gown to the recorder in his pocket.

"Internal organs show a more lupine arrangement, it looks as if her insides are changing to those of an animal." He prodded gently, feeling the fleshy resistance of her liver. "Unknown lumps are appearing on the liver and kidneys, possible cysts?" He fought the urge to cut out her organs and dissect them, studying them further. Instead he merely cut one of the lumps off, took samples of tissue, blood swabs and photographs for her bulging case file. He poked around a bit more and was startled to find a slender green shard, seemingly melded to one of her ribs. It gleamed with the spirit energy of materia. Cleansing the blood off it he scraped at its surface, slipping the shavings onto a slide to examine under his microscope. Shaking his head in slight puzzlement he began the process of closing her up, his fingers trembling slightly. A hole in the latex of his glove had brought him into contact with her blood and he was worried to find it hotter than normal. Chaos usually cooled the blood, making the person a cold blooded, winged demon.

The assistants took her away and washed out the surgery. His specimens lay in front of him, he was examining them slowly looking for tell tale signs. He needed to know the advancement of Chaos, and how long it would take for her to change fully and lose her human physique. He cut open the lump he had taken from her liver and was startled to see the viscous oozing black liquid that flowed from the cut. The smell was hideous, rotten, putrid it flowed into his nostrils making them burn and his eyes water. Clamping his hand over his nose, he let out a yelp. The liquid was slowly burning through his equipment. The glass cracking and sizzling, the metal of the microscope stand flowing away like mercury, the heavy steel table pinging as the drops splattered on its surface eating away, corroding until it hit the cement floor. It was quiet as it ate away the solid mass, finding its way to the earth below. Hojo shuddered and was immediately glad he had not poked the pussy globule. He wailed as he noticed the blade on his scalpel had now disintegrated and joined the pool of metal on the floor. Cursing he went to sort out a replacement blade. Since the knife was so old, they were increasingly rare.


	6. Ch ch Changes

She woke up in a different room. It was smaller, about the size of the cells in the Shinra offices. A concrete platform upon which she lay, housed a thin horsehair mattress covered in thick plastic. It reminded her of the gym mats she used to practice on at school. The walls were also the same grey concrete, pockmarks and slashes in it from where previous inhabitants had left their marks. On one side deep claw marks. She rolled up into a foetal position, her stomach hurting so badly it felt like knives were being driven in. shivering she gagged on the lump that had risen in her throat alongside the pain. She could feel crusted blood and looked down to see a long slash, stitched up in royal blue thread, clumped together with blood. The bastard had sliced her open. She gagged once more imagining what he had done to her.

Presently the pain passed and she felt able to get up and walk around her tiny prison. Strange, because surely she should be immobilised in bed after being sliced from neck to navel? But no, she found, that as she walked, she felt increasingly better. Her head cleared from its post operative fug and she lapsed into a train of thought to escape her room while she paced its length and breadth. She thought about her past, and her parents. About how much she missed simple little things like going to the shops for some milk, or even just walking into another room. A change of scenery, bodily contact with someone else… she missed it all.

The flap at the bottom of the heavy metal door scraped open, sending chills up and down her spine. A plastic bowl was pushed through, boiling gently the steam escaped like a sigh into the cold air of the cell. The flap scraped shut again, more shivers as she crept towards the bowl, hunkering down to examine it. It looked like soup, a thick mixture, bright orange red like tomato. But it smelled strange. Sniffing she could detect a slight irony aroma, she licked her dry lips, making the skin crack.

If she had seen her reflection there as she drooled slightly over this appetising aroma, she would have been terrified. Her chameleon eyes were changing as she paused, savouring the smell and waiting for it to cool slightly before she drank. From silver blue they changed to a deep, dark burgundy, the iris extending slightly. Her pupils dilated as her lashes flickered. Her tongue, running over her rough lips was pointed, and coloured like a slab of raw meat. Yellow fangs forming on either side of her mouth, extending past her white human teeth to rest gently on her lips. The smell permeated her brain, until all she could think about tasted the delicious broth. Grabbing the plastic bowl in both hands she guzzled it down, feeling the warmth bubble down her aching throat, the slap as it hit the pit of her stomach and started warming her body. She licked the bowl clean; her hands gripping so tightly, cracks were beginning to form. Her nails grew longer, curving into sleek talons which pierced the plastic, hurting her tongue as she ran it over the bowl. She needed more.

She unhooked the bowl from her fingers, shuddering as the plastic scraped against her nails, and flung it at the door. She opened her mouth to yell for more, but all that escaped her vocal chords was a long low snarl. She clasped her hands over her mouth, slightly shocked at this, and tilted her head in confusion as she noticed the change to her normally well bitten down nails. The thoughts were soon forgotten as the flap was scraped open again, and a long stick retrieved the bowl. Another was slid in, more of the broth. She fed hungrily.

She itched her leg, just above the ankle as she watched the door waiting for her regular meal to arrive. It had been a few days since the operation, the scar now faded into the purple skin on her belly. The last few flakes of pasty white skin, fell to the floor like snow as she itched, her body now lean, muscled and clad in a thick skin, flexible and glossy, it looked like an oil slick. It gleamed like oil on water, rainbow colours appearing in the light, fading again as she moved. Her hair glossy and straight, was shimmering black cascading down her back. Her pointed ears strained, listening for the familiar footsteps. Her lips curled back into a snarl as she heard his voice, her fangs bared, drool clinging to them. A growl rumbled from her throat as her body tensed ready to pounce. A plate was thrust in through the flap, chunks of meat floated in a pool of sauce. She leapt upon it, chewing into the flesh hungrily, bolting it down. She no longer savoured the taste only cared about slaking her hunger.

She was aware of being watched while she ate, and flicked her tail in annoyance. It reminded Hojo of a panther, the pointed ears, fangs and tail. But her skin was too slick and thick. He tutted as she chewed on the plate, easing the pain of her growing fangs. Her eyes never left his face as she cracked the metal, chomping between her sharp teeth and spitting the chewed hunk of metal out into a pile on the floor. He found himself gazing into those eyes, reddened and full of anger and hatred. They captured you, forcing you to return the stare. Even now he was aware of their colour changing, the many hues of red they turned, the extreme violet tinged with green he had seen when her hunger was satisfied. He had began mixing the long complicated drugs to control her and bond her to him, making her see him as master and He Who Must Be Obeyed. So far the process was slow, but he was confident that it would be ready in a few weeks, maybe even sooner.

She roared, an assistant had accidentally poked her with the brush he was using through the flap, to sweep the remnants of the plate towards them in safety. Snarling she lunged at the door, swiping her clawed hand through the open flap and slashing the assistants arm, neck and face. Claws sank into his throat as she struggled to get her head through the flap, to bite and tear him to shreds. Hojo stepped to one side as the assistants body jerked, blood pooling around him on the flooring. She had torn the vital artery; he was dying as she slurped the blood that trickled through the flap. Hojo wrinkled his nose up in disgust as the dying man gave out one last groan amongst other noises, and the pungent smell of faeces greeted his sensitive nostrils. In his fear the man had lost control of his bladder.


	7. Feline Fine

The changes to her body were terrifying. Each new day brought variations in her skin tone, lengthening of her hair, fangs protruding from her mouth, nails sharpening. Her breasts grew larger, her thighs rounder, bulking up with muscle. Her flesh was hard, toned until no excess flab was left. Muscles formed lengthening her legs, strengthening her. She looked as if she was carved from polished marble. She was sleeker than ever, lean and mean.

She found she could hear things so much better, the whispered conversations held outside her enclosure, the scuttling of the spider as it winds its way across the floor. The planet at night moaning its discomfort as humans raped its surface with machines designed to dig holes deep within its crust.

Her sense of smell was second to none. She could smell the beasts in the basement, the wafts of blood from the many rooms in the institution. The smell of sex lingering on the assistants who came in bleary eyed on the morning after the night before. The pungent aftertaste of bad breath and alcohol overshadowing the minty tang of toothpaste.

Her sight improved. Before she had been captured, she had needed to wear glasses to correct her weak right eye. Now she could see everything sharply, able to see further into the distance than ever before. She could see things in the deepest velvet darkness, the bats that fluttered in the night sky.

Her tastes had developed. Now she found herself craving the slabs of meat Hojo flung in for her. The bloody, raw steaks, the hunks of cow hock. She leapt upon them all shredding them, chewing them, and ripping them to shreds with her claws. The violence in her nature scared her. The lust to tear something to shreds, to feel something die at her hands was pulsating through her, it never diminished.

Her thoughts changed. Once she had held long conversations with herself, deciding what to do each day. Thinking about her friends, her family and life. Now her thoughts were simple. Eat and Hunt. She paced her cell on light feet, waiting for other opportunities to arise. Restless. Thoughts echoed in her mind, fear at the creature she had become, her morals were still haunting her. The animalistic nature horrified the civility of her previous form and gave her many headaches as her fading human mind battled with the body.

She slept in the morning, having paced the cell at night, listening to the strange music coming from distant stars. Her ears twitched as she slumbered dreaming of chasing down sure footed antelope and ripping into their throats, feeling hot salty blood quench her thirst. Her limbs twitched, her lips curled into a snarl. The grinding of the door opening didn't even wake her from her state.

A girl, gagged and bound was thrust in, half naked and already bearing the signs of a beating at the hands of the assistants. Straggly brown hair covered her face, an upturned nose and a thin lipped mouth more used to sneering down at people than quivering in fear. Cold blue eyes peeked out from behind the straggles, flickering as they surveyed their surroundings, resting on the sleeping beast.

"Shoot her" Hojo gave the order, pointing at the flabby flesh, mottled and hanging out. She had come onto him in a bar, and then rejected him when he showed interest. From her friends he gathered she was a bit of a bitch, constantly looking down on others and acting like she was the centre of the world… those people annoyed him and he felt he was doing a public service by exterminating them. He shuddered as he remembered her friend, a short woman with a squeaky voice. He had only spared her life because she was dating a Turk. It was never a good thing to get on the wrong side of a Turk… his plans could be uncovered, his disguise blown. he had slipped a little potion into the obnoxious one's Smirnoff ice and had carted her off, leaving her friends to head bang to that infernal Alice Cooper song.

"Shoot to kill sir?" The assistant peered into the cell.

"Just to injure, we want to get some blood flowing" Hojo crossed his arms across his chest and waited. The muffled bang as the bullet left the silencer. The girl slumped forwards squealing into her gag as blood seeped from her shoulder. The assistant closed the door and they retired to another room. Observing through a one way mirror.

Her nostrils twitched as she awoke from her slumber. The tantalizing scent tickling her and making her drool. Long strands dripped to the floor as she flickered her eyelids, eyes focusing in on the hapless victim. Sniffing the air she paused, waiting to see what the girl would do. She merely crouched there sobbing, no weapons, no strange poisons on her. She was clean.

Sauntering slowly over, she sat in front of her, tilting her head to survey her as she whimpered there, clutching the bleeding wound. The bullet was sunk into the wall across the way, tiny spatters of blood surrounding it.

"Why isn't she attacking?" The assistant just looked confused as the beast purred and rubbed her head against the girl's wet cheek.

"Who knows…? I'm not a mind reader" Hojo frowned, he was looking forward to seeing some blood and gore before dinner.

The girl had ceased to sob after the beast partially healed her wound with a sly curaga. Fondling the long soft ears she looked around, taking in the claw marks on the ceiling and walls, the blood stains on the floor. The tattered cushion in the corner on which the beast slept.

"Why did they bring me here kitty?" she didn't seem at least perturbed that this kitty was five foot ten, and had human features.

"Roooooowl" the beast opened her mouth, revealing the gleaming, sharpened fangs.

"I suppose we're both prisoners here" the girl scratched the itch behind the beasts left ear making it twitch.

"Grooowl" the beast stomped her foot, as the itch was soothed.

"This is disgusting… she's acting like a common feline" Hojo almost spat in disgust as the beast he created pounced playfully on a spider, eyes glinting in childlike innocence and glee.


	8. Companionship

"I'm too important to be in here... my friends will miss me dreadfully they can't do without me to organise them." Her voice echoed around the room, she'd been droning on and on about her life and how she was so ill done to. She hadn't noticed the beast's ears twitching in irritation, the swishing of her tail or the baring of her fangs whenever she mentioned herself… which was every second.

Hojo snored in his chair. The sound of her self importance had sent him to sleep faster than the conventional drugs. The assistant was playing solitaire on the company computer, occasionally looking over his shoulder to note down times and the beast's actions.

The beast stretched out, murmuring her displeasure as she sank her nails into concrete and shredded through it like it was butter. Still the voice droned on. Sitting on her haunches and raising her head she yowled out of key like a common alley cat serenading the moon. Except she was a lab cat, serenading the blinking light in the ceiling that signalled the existence of a CCTV camera.

Hojo woke with a start, and opened a panel in the wall.

"SHUT UP!" he flung a boot at her, doinking it off her head making her stop and yowl in surprise and pain.

"You EVIL man" the girl shook her head and went to the beast that was now leaping on the boot and tearing into the leather with gusto as she "killed" the thing that had caused her hurt.

"Poor kitty" she tried to fondle the long ears again but got snarled at as the beast got the smelly boot stuck on her paw. She now clumped around the room shaking as the offending article refused to come off.

The girl watched from the corner as the beast shredded the laces, finally able to get the boot off. Settling down with the boot between her paws, she licked her long sandpapery tongue over her feet, cleaning them before carrying on with her demolition.

"This is pathetic" Hojo paced along the corridor as the assistant who retrieved the food bowls emerged covered in drool and minus his stick. The stick was now being rolled around the floor, and batted at with large clawed paws.

"She was supposed to be evil!" he sighed and slammed his fist against the wall, wincing as it hurt his scrawny scientist arm. "She was supposed to slaughter that annoying girl."

"Perhaps with more tests… we could..." the assistant started, wiping his arm from where she had tried to gnaw at him.

"Shut up, I pay you to work not to do my thinking for me" Hojo snapped before slinking back to his private room overlooking the cell. Perhaps she just needed her temper broken… torture. His eyes gleamed with untold malice. The fun he could have with this creature. For some reason his brilliant brain recalled a scene from a television program. He had been flicking through his 900+ channels, looking for something decent to watch on the biology channel, or the sci fi channels when he had stumbled across a cartoon programme. Yellow skinned people with big overbites, he had watched a little, intrigued by this form of entertainment for the masses. A brown dog, being punched in the face by a little wizened man.

"Poka Poka Poka" he found himself mimicking the words in that American twang. Shaking his head he sat down at his desk and proceeded to draw up plans for the long arduous process of breaking the beast's temper.

The beast that was lying on its back across the girls knee, half chewed boot hanging from her fangs, getting her belly rubbed by the girl as she talked some more about her life and how pitiful her situation was. Somewhere in the darkened recesses of the beasts mind, the thoughts of the human she was once been echoed.

"You prattle on about how bad your life is, how you loathe being stuck in this lab. There are others worse off than you, those men in tanks, eroded by acids, those assistants slaughtered by the beasts in the basement. The girls who disappear mysteriously and turn up in the pit dug deep in the foundations."

"Roooooowl" was the only thing that escaped her lips.


	9. Given a name

She tilted her head, purring slightly as the warm handed assistant clipped the collar round her neck. He ruffled behind her ears, feeling the new growth of sleek fur that had covered the thick hide. Three days of constant scratching, rubbing against the floor and yowling pitifully while the hair forced its way through the skin. She had been pitiful, enraging Hojo even more. He hated cuteness and loathed weakness. He wanted a strong, evil monster to wreak havoc.

"Come along… uh…what am I supposed to call you?" He clipped a lead onto the collar, pulling her along. "You need a bath". The previous day, Hojo had taken her out to the fields beyond the city and pit her against monster after monster. Dry blood matted alongside clumps of blood, blades of grass and crushed flower petals browning. She trotted amicably alongside him, pleased at the change of company. The girl was becoming more and more boring to her.

"I think… hmm I think I'll call you Nyah." He picked her up, holding her like a child in his arms. Opening the door with his hip he took her inside, a huge metal tub of water waiting for her. "Just don't say anything to Hojo. You are supposed to be known as Experiment 95012 until he can think of a suitably terrifying name for you" he placed her in the tub, smiling as she pounced on the rubber duck he had put in, soaking herself and him in the process. "Now calm down" he started rubbing the shampoo in, carefully scrubbing at the matted blood and muck. "What a mess"

"Roooooowl" she stretched in contentment as he removed the ticks that had fastened themselves to her.

"There, that's better" he lifted her out and put her on the thick towel, letting her stretch out as he rubbed the water from her. "Cant have you catching cold Nyah" He laughed as she rolled over to let him rub her belly and swatted playfully at his dangling ponytail. Such a sweet creature. He shuddered as he thought about the plans Hojo had in store for her. Satisfied that she was powerful enough, he had devised a scheme to torture her until she became wild, hating everyone but Hojo. Hojo would be her master, and everyone else… her victims.

"She's all clean then?" Hojo stood by the tanks once more, waiting for the assistant and the beast to get to him.

"Yes sir, just like you ordered." The assistant bowed his head respectfully before handing him the lead. The beast was solemn now, no more capering or playfulness.

"Good… there's nothing I hate more than filthy specimens" Hojo tugged on the lead "move beast" he booted her rump making her skitter along beside him. The assistant shook his head.

"Poor bugger" he turned to walk away, his time card in his hand. Time to go home to his microwave meal for one and his evening television.

Meanwhile Hojo had dragged Nyah into an operating room and shoved her onto the table. Setting up his equipment he almost danced as the anaesthetic kicked in and she fell asleep, snoring slightly, drool escaping from her rubbery lips.

Humming away as he worked, he carefully inserted the fine copper wire under her skin. Why have a shock collar, when you could target the whole body with a system of intersecting fine wires, embedded deep in her skin? He cackled as he watched the skin rise over the wire, making patterns. It brought to mind another brief TV moment when he had been subjected to X Men 2 by his assistants. The one they called Kurt, had millions of marks over his body from where he had carved into himself. A relief map of religious symbols. The beast with her dark purple skin and the wires standing up underneath like raised veins was bearing an uncanny resemblance. Muttering to himself, he banished thoughts of television from his mind. TV rots the mind, that's why they call TV viewers the mindless masses. He repeated this over and over in his head, but found himself wondering what The Simpsons would get up to tonight.


	10. Warm Hands Warm heart

Hojo smiled in satisfaction and wiped the blood from his arm. She had clawed at him after the last attack and caught his whipping arm. He stroked the slashed flesh as it gradually healed, Jenova cells getting to work deep inside him. He watched through the one way mirror as one of his many new assistants fitted the weighty metal shackles around the beast's paws, making them so heavy she could barely move. Another irritated her with the high pitched dog whistle while smacking her with an assortment of implements. A wooden board which left splinters, a metal cable which sliced into her skin worse than any whip, a bamboo cane, springy and stingy, and for some unknown reason a kitchen ladle. He shook his head, what were these people on? Who used a ladle for torture? He noticed the assistant pick up the ladle and set about hitting her on her head. A strange half doinking noise/half ringing noise ensued as the beast shivered and thrashed her head around. Pushing the button of the slender remote control in his pocket he watched the voltage rip through her body, flinging both her and the assistant to the floor. The electricity had travelled up the metal ladle and shocked the assistant at the same time.

"Served them right for using a ladle" he sneered and turned back to his lab notes. The past three days of torture had been successful, the beast was no longer as happy go lucky as she had been before. His lips wrinkled up into a snarl.

"Happy go lucky? Since when did I use the term happy go lucky?" he booted the television. "The reports are right, you do kill brain cells!" he paused. "Hojo… you're talking to an inanimate object" he sighed, "I need to get out more"

The cold air permeated the rips in her hide, chilling the wounds and making them throb painfully. She didn't understand why the creepy little man was so angry with her. Raising her sluggish body as best she could, she began to lick the dry blood from herself, gagging as the foul tasting menthol sizzled at her tongue. A low mournful groan escaped her lips and she shuffled awkwardly to the ratty pillow that was her bed. Spiders scuttled along the floor, crawling up her tail, their pointed little feet irritating her skin, making her itch. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the pain, her stomach rumbling as if it was trying to eat itself.

"Nyah"

He opened the door, making sure the CCTV camera was turned off, no more blinking red light. Hojo was safely in his rooms at the back of the lab, luxuriating in his comfortable bed while his assistants slept in slum housing.

"You poor animal" he stroked the undamaged flesh, wincing as his fingertips brushed the crusty dry blood ridge around a particularly deep wound. She merely watched him with deadened eyes.

"I'll help you Nyah" he stroked her as he readied the first aid kit, taking out sterilised wipes, healing potions and other paraphernalia.

"I'm afraid I cant heal you completely" He rubbed the velvety patch above her nose, "Hojo would feed me to the monsters downstairs, I cant be killed yet" he set about cleaning her up, removing the spiders and rubbing her silky ears to soothe her as he swabbed sensitive wounds, draining the pus away and digging out chunks of solid blood. It was disgusting work. Finally he massaged the healing potion into her flesh, watching in satisfaction as healing scabs covered the wounds, hopefully preventing anything getting in and infecting the poor animal. He had talked to her all the way through, soothing her with his warm hands and soft calming voice.

"An animal? Is that what I've become?" the tiny human voice echoed in her mind. It was soon drowned out as he pulled out a doggy bag filled with bits of meat, odd little chunks from meals. It wouldn't have mattered if they were off or rank, she wolfed them down anyway, each chunk slamming into the pit of her pained empty stomach until the bag was empty.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring more" he sighed and packed up all his equipment. His job wasn't over, he had to go fiddle with the CCTV so Hojo didn't wonder where the missing forty five minutes had gone. The beast watched him leave her, licking the last traces of meaty goodness from her teeth. Her stomach rumbled slightly as she settled down to sleep, the wounds fizzing slightly from all the cleansing. No longer as pained she soon slept, dreaming of mundane things that made her shackled legs twitch.


	11. At Night

(yeh yeh... this is probably a lame chapter... and a lesson never to write when you feel depressed.. lol. I dont know if i'll keep this in, so comments would be appreciated.)

"Oh my sink has broken" The badly dubbed porn movie played as he fiddled with his gearbox. He cursed and threw the piece of useless machinery to one side. It had been a long time since his sexual needs had been serviced; masturbation just wasn't doing it for him any more. Cursing more he rose and padded through to his sterile little kitchen, flicking on the light and rooting around for some Wine. Finding only a can of lager he wrinkled his nose in disgust. For his sophisticated tastes lager would not do. Slamming the fridge door he booted a plate across the floor, its owner mewing unhappily as she leapt out of the way.

"For fucks sake!" he booted the cat, she landed on the wall, her tentacles suction cupping to the plaster. He felt dirty, he had never sworn before. He thought it was uncouth. He prided himself on being as much of a gentleman as possible, forgetting that the experiments and his treatment of them were sadistic, cruel and bordering on insanity.

Nyah lay asleep on the floor, stretched out, and relaxed now her body wasn't giving her any more pain. Her fur had thickened in the last few hours; tufts sticking up all over the place making her look like some unkempt woodland creature. She happily dreamed of the strangest things, conveyor belts whirring filled with food products. A giant washing machine which housed millions of smaller machines, the endless whirring of the laundry as it swirled round and round.

The door to her room slid open, creaking and grating on the concrete floor. It wasn't enough to rouse her from her slumber. A low purr rumbled along with her stomach as she dreamed about eating roast beef with gravy and mashed potatoes. He crept in, the muzzle and collar in his hands, twisting the leather straps in his hands. The beast twitched, her tail flickering.

He leapt on her, sitting astride her body while he slammed her nose into the muzzle. She woke up in shock snarling and finding her mouth restricted by the leather straps. The bite of them as they dug into the tender flesh above her nose. She roared in pain as a collar was clipped around her neck, the circuit being completed, her body jerking with a series of minor electrical shocks. She bucked, feeling the man leaning on her, squashing her lungs as she drooled flecks of foam, her tongue lolling to scrape along the floor. Paws twitching, the heavy claws out and carving up the concrete as she spasmodically jerked and shivered. The shocks finally subsiding.

The room fell silent once more, the coldness biting at her damaged flesh. She could hear his breathing, the ragged hoarse sound of a man out of breath. Nothing unusual, the assistant often had irregular breathing patterns after beating her, or attempting to silence her. She struggled to move but the weight of him pressing down on her and the feeling of numbness in her limbs made it impossible.

The unmistakable sound of a zipper. Hojo was bent over fiddling with the tricky zipper on his favourite pair of work trousers. The trousers that hadn't been washed in weeks, that reeked of sweat, blood and traces of urine. Her eyes widened as he raised her up, she leant forward on her elbows, rough concrete scraping her skin, little bits of grit, scraped up by her claws, sticking into her. The pain as she felt something hard prodding at her most intimate of areas.

He laughed sadistically as he plunged into her again and again. The feeling of hot, tight pussy an ecstatic change from his hand. He suffered from poor circulation and cold hands. Even warming them on radiators and hot water bottles didn't do the trick. He listened to the beast growl in pain. Smiling he clawed into her, handfuls of skin clenched in his fingertips as he picked up the pace. Drool slobbered down his chin to pool in her fur. She bit into her lips, blood staining the foam on the floor. She cried as he started whipping her, a metal ruler from his pocket serving him well. Pain throughout her lower body, it felt like someone was sawing into her. She felt like this would never end, he was like a machine… like one of the machines he used to set on her. Endlessly whipping away, mechanics pumping and grinding without showing signs of slowing.

He yelled as he came inside her. She wailed as the hot viscous fluid seemed to scald her insides. Jenova cells infecting her body, merging with the chaos inside her. Normal women would die within five minutes of Hojo shooting his load, but she … was a freak. He pulled out almost snarling at her, his face stuck in a fearful grimace. She tried to move away, terrified as he went to the door and brought in a lead pipe. A lead pipe already stained with her blood. She cowered, the last time she had seen that pipe it had been used to crack her skull.

He weighed the pipe in his hands, slashing through the air with it, hearing the whistling noise as air passed through it. Leering he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, feeling the damp fur, the faint tang of his onion breath rising to meet him. Twisting the pipe in his hand he beat her over the head with it, the ringing of the pipe making him laugh. Dropping her, he watched her shake her head, the pain confusing her, disorientating her. she stumbled a little before he continued his assault, booting her so she sprawled on her belly amongst the dirt on the floor.

The pipe felt so good in his hands, solid. He felt like a man with it, his sense of power over this helpless creature overwhelming. His eyes glittered with a new malice as he plunged that pipe into the beasts already abused pussy. The pained screams played about his ears as the sharp end on the pipe tore at the membranes of her insides, blood starting to pour from her. After a few minutes of this fun he pulled it out, licking the blood from the smoothened sides before beating her with it once more. The poor beast was shoved into the corner, the pipe clanging against the walls as Hojo became more frenzied, in his pursuit of pleasure he missed his target.

He finally left her, torn and bleeding. Bruised and battered… slumped against the corner like a ragged bundle of torn clothes. The CCTV camera blinked, her only companion. She wished she was dead. Her insides churned, the Jenova causing her problems. Opening her mouth she allowed the noxious, slimy vomit to pool around her muzzle, the smell vile and rankling her nostrils. She couldn't bear to move.


	12. Bloodstains

Calmly, confidently she walked across the blood soaked floor. Two months of torture, eight weeks of sexual assault, 56 days of constant beatings…. 1344 hours of hell. Her temper had finally broken.

Limbs twitched amongst the pools of crimson, glittering in the light as droplets distorted the surface. Reflections of the halogen strip bulbs flickered, the rippled surface a macabre mirror.

Entrails dangled from the concrete platform raised all around the room, intestinal tracks spurting their stinking load onto the ground. A ruptured set of lungs wheezed in the corner, the lab assistant they had came from, mangled in a heap in the corner.

She licked her lips, tongue running over the rubbery lips, to smooth out the puckered fur, caked in blood. The sweet salty taste staining her completely, running down her throat, filling her mouth, soaking her skin, entering every pore. She felt she could drown in the stuff, the smell in her nostrils, and the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. Droplets of blood even stained her eyelashes, red dots dancing in her line of vision as she blinked.

"Four assistant's sir" Miss Harper quivered like a jelly, fearing that she would be sent in next. Hojo had watched, sat in his heavy oak chair like some sort of Roman emperor watching the gladiators battle to the death.

"Send two more in with sedation guns, she needs to rest" Hojo leaned forward slightly, moving the cushion beneath his buttocks. Clinking his empty glass he bade his timid new assistant to fetch him another glass of a charming drink he discovered while beating children up in a park. Something called White Lightning. He was unsure as to what exactly it was.

Miss Harper nodded and wheeled silently away. Hojo had carved her up and fed parts of her to the monster in the bottom basement. She now consisted of a head, half a torso, an arm and a weak looking leg. Wheels had been grafted to her body, long spindly legs holding her up. She was prone to crashing often, her sense of balance greatly affected. The spindles holding her wheels were of similar design to old car radio aerials and were easily snapped or bent out of shape. They often jarred into her marred torso causing her great pain.

Nyah sat down, happily licking her huge clawed paws clean. Pieces of flesh and skin hung from jagged peaks on her claws, they needed clipped and filed. Walking on concrete all the time had made them split and tear. Her tongue scraped against the splintery nails, drawing her own blood to mingle with that of her victims. Around her their severed heads lay facing her. Their mouths open in silent grimaces of pain, screams of agony long gone. Eyes, white and sightless still seemingly pleading for something she couldn't give.

Licking her lips once more she paced, the slurping noise of her paws squishing the congealing lumps of blood into the floor. She could hear the assistants crying as they were ordered to their death. The click of the guns being loaded with the tranquilising darts. She could even smell the powdery milky smell of the fluid on the tips of the darts.

The two trembling twins were thrust in. Shivering they edged around the wall, guns twitching in their grip. She sat down, tilting her head to study them, not even bothering to run at them or move at all for that matter. Still they edged around her, not taking the chance to shoot her while she was still. Humans were pretty stupid.

They finally raised their guns, aiming for her body. Their fingers twitched, the click of the guns as they discharged… into the floor.

"You gotta be kidding me" Nyah could hear the thought echoing around her head. "It's not even worth killing them." She watched as they touched the two grooves in the floor, the powder being absorbed into their bloodstream through their skin. Both slumped to the floor and fell into a deep and darkened slumber. She watched as their breathing slowed, and their bodies relaxed. No point in feeding from them now. Their blood would be tainted. She would wait til tomorrow for them to waken, to squeal as she stalked them, scream as her claws ripped through their skin. Picking the guns up in her mouth she took them to her corner, placing them gently down amongst the jewellery, wallets and other belongings she had stripped from her victims. Nudging a stray earring back she settled down to sleep next to them, the lobes still attached to the pretty metal rings.


	13. A Random Day

"Walkies" He entered her room, a lead in his hands. "Come on Nyah" He advanced towards her as she pricked her ears at the mention of her name. a long drip led from her left forearm to a bag of pale blue liquid hanging from a hook on the wall. It was nearly empty, she had felt some strange changes to her mind as the bag drained into her body.

"My name isn't Nyah" she thought, the words so clear in her head now. Before they had seemed muffled, like they were underwater, these little bursts of comments that had invaded her mind as she ripped apart her victims or ate her food, gulping it down like the animal she had become.

"Here girl" he knelt beside her, warm hands encased in latex gloves, he removed the equipment from her forearm. She sighed in pleasure as the strange cold pressure was alleviated and the tingle went from her paw. The lead was clipped to the collar around her neck, the sharp stabbing pain as the two needles embedded in her flesh moved. A button on the lead would shock her if she misbehaved, the shock travelling down the lead, to the collar and down the two needles to travel around her body via the meshwork Hojo had installed in there. The muzzle, a simple leather strap, was fitted around her nose, stopping her from opening her mouth too wide. She had savaged many assistants after they had failed to fit her muzzle correctly. Hojo had had fun however, replacing their torn parts with new prosthetics of his own creation… there was an assistant who was walking around on a normal leg, and one piano leg. Another who had lost his nose and had it replaced with a kitchen tap… and the unfortunate guy who had lost his genitals and had them replaced … with well perhaps it was best not to think about that.

He pulled on the lead, signalling for her to walk beside him. Exiting the room he took her down a series of sterile white corridors, electric light blazing. The air dank with antiseptic grew lighter as they neared the steel double doors. She could smell the freshness in the air, found it easier to breath. She began to bounce slightly as she walked, excitement welling up inside her. The steel doors were swung open by the two guards, the blast of cold air making her fur tingle on end.

SNOW!

She bounced about, flurries of snow being chucked up in her wake. Rolling about she snapped at the falling snowflakes, the assistant laughing his head off at her antics. He had taken her on the winding path through the park of cherry blossom trees. Nobody was around, that part of town was rarely busy. Rumours of monsters kept them all at bay, but that didn't bother Hojo and his attendants. Nyah kept them away anyway. A delicate little rabbit hopped past them, carrot clutched in its front paws. As white as the snow it took the assistant a while to see it, Nyah was already stalking it.

It made a strange high pitched noise and bopped her on the nose with its carrot, she stretched her jaws and burst the muzzle, gulping it down in one swallow. Spitting out bits of fluff she looked disgusted, settling down she made several hocking noises, like cats when they regurgitate hairballs. Accompanied by a puddle of drool, the carrot was coughed out; she booted it away licking her chops.

There were delighted screams from the other end of the park, Children skating on the ice covering the goldfish pond. Unusual for this park, although they were quite far away. The assistant was struggling to keep a decent grip on the excited animal as she bounced around like a mutated version of tigger.

Such sweet memories… it was strange to think only two hours ago she had been frolicking in the park. Now she was chained to a table her split skin sizzling as he slapped her with a red hot poker. Shreds of her stuck to it as he tossed it back into the fire, reheating it for more torture.

He had grafted parts onto her body; she now possessed a long black, whip like tentacle which protruded from the back of her neck. With a little training she would be able to use it as a weapon. He had tried to give her wings, but they had ripped free from her shoulder blades… he hadn't allowed for the sheer weight of the beast.

He was getting tired, his arm lagging after wielding the heavy poker for hours on end. He had already raped her twice before she had been taken out; he had no urge to have her again. He was tempted to repeat his lead pipe incident with the scalding hot poker, but he needed her to be relatively intact. If he burned up her insides, she would be no good for him.

Or for his next plan.


	14. Preperation

What was going on?

She lay uncomfortably on the floor, her neck shackled to a metal ring embedded in the floor. A couple of centimetres of chain seriously restricted her movement. She could only lie on her belly, her legs soon getting numb and cold from lack of movement. The temperature in the cell kept dropping, the arctic cooling system sputtering in the corner. Icicles beginning to form on its base.

She didn't remember him doing this to her. She could smell her blood crystallised on the floor, the poker lying next to it. Unusual, Hojo was a tidy man, he always cleaned up after his experiments… maybe not with his own hands, after all he had a lot of assistants.

The door clanged open; she looked up to see what horrors awaited her. A sigh of relief left her lips, escaping into the cold air. There was only one weedy looking assistant carrying a canvas bag. Probably her lunch, her stomach rumbled, she was starving.

The assistant moved to the back of her, she couldn't move her head to watch him, but she could feel his hands stroking her sides, the downy fur broken by ridged welts of scorched skin. To her astonishment, he raised her rear legs, forcing her to kneel forward on her front paws, in a strange position. He wedged a metal thing underneath to keep her like that, and then shackled her back legs to it. She growled in irritation, her claws unsheathing and grinding into the concrete. The assistant moved to her front now, a power drill clutched in his bony hands. The horrible whiny sound as it bored into the floor, he soon screwed in some more rings, adhesive making them unmovable. The assistant lost no time in chaining her paws to the floor.

The chains dug into her flesh, as if they were trying to embed them in her bones. The weird ache making her fret.

"I want her muzzled too" Hojo leaned on the doorframe watching the work in progress. "I don't want to risk any injury from her fangs." He grinned evilly. "I'll even hold her head still"

The pain was unimaginable, white hot arrows digging into her brain as she screamed through a mouthful of blood and bile. The sick bastard had drilled through her muzzle, blood dripping to the floor flecked with foam. Chaos Genetics meant that she would not die from this treatment, or he would never have attempted it. It went straight through, from the bridge of her nose to the bottom of her chin. He had thoughtfully moved her tongue out of the way before making the hole through her lower jaw. A bolt slid through and tightened both sides with large nuts ensured she couldn't open her mouth at all. The pain, the coldness of the metal, she nearly passed out.

"It's fascinating work" Hojo wrote some notes down in his unmistakable block handwriting. Little evil faces dotting the I's he was obviously in a more cheerful mood than normal. "Even now, her nasal passages and veins are rebuilding themselves to accommodate the bolt"

"There's so much I'd like to learn about Chaos" The assistant was crawling now. "I'm so honoured to work alongside you sir"

"You work under me and never forget it" Hojo was irritated by the obvious ass kissing. "Now go clean out the acid tanks"

Cleaning out the acid tanks wascertain death. Hojo would have them get into his "acid proof" water suits and give them a household mop to clean the inside of the glass with. They usually dissolved really quickly, the chemicals in the wet suit speeding up the whole process. Cleaning out the tanks only took place when they previous occupants had fully dissolved and disappeared.

"Shall I ask the assistants to clean the room?" Miss Harper who now sported a classy battery pack embedded deep in her back. It helped power up her spindly legs.

"No I like the smell of her blood." Hojo was watching her squirm, the fur on her face marred with tears. He wasn't aware that chaos beasts could cry.


	15. Beastial

She screamed out in a high pitch. Grating on the ears as pain ripped through her body. Sharp pinpricks in her flesh, muscles twitching, legs flailing against the chains that bound her down. Blood flecked on the floor around her, spattered as far as the walls beyond.

The bolt in her mouth had loosened, the nuts now grated in to the bone of her jaw. Enough for her screams to echo loudly down the corridors of the establishment. The assistants drowning it out with talk show TV and beer. Jerry Springer and cheap cans.

Her head flailed on its short chain, the muscles in her neck almost cracking with the strain. Dull ache in her neck contrasted with the severe agony everywhere else. Low growls and snarls accompanying each twinge.

The beasts were fighting.

Hojo had sprayed some serum on her; it was the equivalent pheromones to drive any hot blooded animal wild. All his murderous creations were attacking her. Huge, heavily muscled beasts three times her size ripping her open to satisfy their animal instincts. Their relief was all that mattered they didn't care if they tore apart their prey as long as they could get some satisfaction.

Seven beasts. One Hojo had released on the towns a few days ago to test him. He was a murderous psychopath, killing everything in sight. Causing mass damage and carnage on the streets. Another had huge fangs and claws, currently embedded in Nyah's tender flesh, his jaws nearly severing her neck. His claws were centimetres away from puncturing her lungs. He pumped wildly, flesh tearing. Blood coating his mouth and fangs. This only spurred him on. Each thrust flung her against her bonds, the steel platform underneath banging into her stomach and ribs. She vomited acidic fluid over the floor, it dripped from her nose making her eyes water as she gasped for breath. Openly crying now, the tears mingled with the other fluids on the floor as she prayed for death to release her from this constant torture.

The force of the seventh monster to mount her caused the weakening chains to snap. Now she was only bound by her head. She weakly managed to slash at him with her back claws, momentarily angering him and causing him to withdraw from the attack.

"She'll escape if that head chain snaps" one of the assistants watching over Hojo's shoulder commented as they observed through the one way mirror. "The room isn't secure."

"With all those specimens in it?" Hojo tried to hide his contempt for the weedy, droopy foreheaded man at his shoulder. "Perhaps I should send you in to secure her once more"

"S...sir the beasts have no intelligence… and …. " he flustered and tailed off as he caught sight of the beast's distended penis. Pulsating scarlet it caught the eye. He actually found it quite erotic, and had debated wether to move from letting his pet dog ,Skippy, fuck him to letting the fully grown beasts in the darkened basements of the lab have a shot at him. He was actually jealous of Nyah. Watching her get fucked was a turn on sure… but he wished he was in her place.

"Never mind" Hojo had that glint in his eye. Before Nyah could remove herself from the steel wedge underneath her he pushed a button on the little remote he carried with him. The red button was a remote sensor that triggered her shock collar… the blue button was newly wired in.

"What does that button do?" The assistant was getting on his nerves.

Steel claws dug into her belly, holding her to the slab. She kicked, but every movement wrenched her skin, digging into her flesh. When the beast remounted, she passed out. The pain in her body too much for her mind to bear. Like a light bulb she just puttered out. Blackness encapsulating her mind, she moved no more.

Suddenly the assistant didn't envy her so much. Blood trickled over the steel, the beasts fucked on, occasionally licking the blood as a pick me up when they got tired.

"Keep an eye on her" Hojo stretched and made sure the CCTV was still recording. "I'm going to bed"

"Yes sir" the assistant's orders were to stay all night. The beasts would be taken out in another 15 hours.


	16. Aftermath

Spinning round and round, blackness everywhere. Distant shadows of people in the past murky. Voices calling to her, but she couldn't move. Couldn't run towards the warm tones of … she couldn't remember who they were. Panic rose in her chest, her heart thudding. She couldn't recall anything, her name, her family, and her friends. Shaking, trembling, a cold chill encapsulated her. Her mind so empty she didn't even know who she was now, where she was…

She was aware of more animalistic grunts, the people being silenced by roars and snarls. The sound of flesh being torn from the body. The strange hot feeling in her lower body, the eternal stickiness that made her itch uncomfortably. She couldn't move to clean herself up, couldn't make her heavy paws work, or even lift her head. Spiralling deeper into darkness, her eyelids twitched as around her unconscious body bright lights blazed. Their white hot heat pricking her skin as sweat irritated the slashes on her flesh.

She opened her eyes, crusty daggers slicing into the delicate skin and the whites of her eyes. Blinking furiously she felt them loosen and bounce down her cheeks as she struggled to focus. Only a green light could be seen, a tiny light bulb in the distance illuminating half a dial. The dial monitoring some pressure or something. A shady table could be seen, apart from that… nothing at all.

"Time to sleep some more" A voice, a pin prick and the darkness again.

"Sir is that really necessary?" Miss Harper was hiding her face as they watched the beasts fight each other. Two of the larger beasts were battling it out, one using a former assistants head as a club, the other using a chunk of torso and half a leg. "What does this achieve?"

"Nothing" Hojo chewed on his mouthful of sunflower seeds. He had once stolen a sunflower seed from a cute hungry looking bird at the park, and had gotten quite addicted to them. There was an assistant who followed him around with a dustpan and brush to sweep up the familiar black and white shells as he spat them out.

"but surely we should be spending time on our research, perfecting Chaos, merging it with the other beasts… after all there's no limits to what we can change her into, why should she stay that beast forever?"

"Our research?" Hojo raised an eyebrow, "have you forgotten who runs this establishment?"

"Sir… sorry sir" she saw that glint in his eyes and knew to shut up. The last time he had that glint, the two copulating coffee boys had been sliced into thin pieces in the huge kitchen downstairs… Hojo had them served up in sandwiches.

"Time to wake up" her mother's voice? "Time for school"

"Time to wake up" Hojo prodded her with the metal pole "Lazy beast"

Hojo switched on the bright lights illuminating the room where she lay. A large oak desk in the centre, shelves of books all around. A rack, with shining jars filled with different coloured fluids caught her eye. Shimmering shades of blue and green, the occasional red mixed in.

Raising herself up, she felt strange, weak kneed. Falling off the desk she looked down, staring at her legs in confusion. How long had she been asleep in here? Hours? Days? She looked up at the calendar on the wall… it wouldn't help; she never knew the dates in this lab.

"Experiment shows some confusion" Hojo spoke into his Dictaphone "indication of head trauma?" he snickered away to himself before booting her in the abdomen, making her groan and try to stagger to her feet again.

"Sir, there's been some trouble… some intruders have been spotted" Miss Harper appeared, wheels squeaking away.

"Lock these doors, keep her down here until I say its safe to move her" Hojo pulled off his latex gloves; he had been planning to mess with her some more. Running he left his assistant to lock up while he went to deal with the problem.


	17. Left alone

She was left alone, seeking comfort from the bright light she stumbled around the room. Each step felt like she was walking on broken glass. Bones clicking loudly as she stretched, the muscles running cold as they cramped. She came to rest by the jars, they cast soothing coloured shadows on the floor. Her skin glinting in tones of red, blue and green. She peeked up, from under half closed lashes at them, the pretty fluids soothing.

They were huge jars, in each different fluid a blobby figure floated. At first they looked like body parts, but as she took a closer look she realised they were babies… baby… beasts.

They looked so familiar. Black beasts with gnarled, half formed faces. Beady eyes glimmered dully amongst the bubbles. Strange formations of scales, claws and spikes all over them. Why would Hojo have these in jars?

She walked to the heavy desk and sat in the chair, books and paper sticking out of the desk drawers. Words and scribbles all over them. She flicked through them idly, not really understanding the human language she had spent so much of her former life learning. Only one word stood out, she had flicked through the buff folder, only to come across a picture of a young woman. A name underneath.

Fireheart.

The woman smiled glassily at her from the glossy film of photo. Hair slightly scruffy, framing the eerily pale heart shaped face. Large, soulful eyes betrayed a hint of shock, as if the flash had taken her by surprise. Nyah studied the many sheets of paper attached to the photo, squiggly coloured lines and many many round shaped diagrams. None she could fathom.

Throwing the file into the pile she leaned back on the chair, wincing a little as pain shot up her abdomen. Looking down she saw the huge scar, rippling across the muscular flesh of her stomach. She felt a twinge, as she put two and two together. She had been out cold for a long time; the baby beasts shared similar characteristics with her… the wound on her stomach… Those beasts in jars were her children. A litter of monsters. Confined to jars of potions… what for? Wouldn't it have been better for her to have them? To birth them into this world?


	18. Found object

There was a rattle, screams from behind the door. Echoes pounding on dusty rock. The solid doors were booted, once … twice… three times. On the fourth time the wood splintered, one more kick and they burst open. The men falling into the dingy room.

Taken by surprise she let out an angry snarl, perched on the table, claws digging into the leather topped surface. Her tail lashing, eyes glowing eerily in the dim light, she looked like a demon.

But that didn't scare him.

More footsteps as others joined him, all staring at the demon on the desk. Weak humans, she could take them down, all of them! She started to drool, could smell the pulsating blood running through their veins. Just like the stuff she was served at mealtimes. Her stomach rumbled, voicing its opinion. Disguising the grumble with a growl, she lashed her tail. Shifting her weight she made to leap off the table but was rendered motionless, her gaze had been caught and held by an angry glare.

Crimson eyes, normally a warm colour, but such coldness behind them. He surveyed her with contempt. Hojo's monster didn't deserve any kind of courtesy. She watched entranced, enraptured as he aimed the silver rifle. She didn't move, no emotions registered on her darkened features. A click broke the silence, woke her from his gaze.

"Don't kill it" the man with flame red hair spoke up, his hand reaching out to aim the gun downwards.

"It's a sin against nature, it should be killed and burned." His voice matched his eyes. So harsh, so cold. She shivered uncontrollably. Those eyes still burned into hers with the most intense hatred she had ever seen. What had she done to deserve such anger?

The red head examined the file she had cast aside, his eyes flickering as he read the squiggles and deciphered the round diagrams. She was suddenly envious of his ability. Another man, heavily covered in some sort of aftershave strode in; he seemed to be in charge.

"The president wishes the specimens to be taken to Shinra tower… blood tests to determine whether or not Miss Fireheart was used in their construction." Raven black hair, a strange mark on his head. His voice made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Authority, he who must be obeyed. The one thing Hojo lacked. "Get it in the cage and transport it out of here…it's the only one left alive"

"And the files?" the red head gestured to the drawers of paperwork with the file in his hand. "We take those too?"

"Yes" his radio crackled into life, "It seems there's a problem with the cage." He looked around. "We'll just have to tie it up" he gestured to the ropes on the wall.

"I could kill it"

"We've established that's not an option. Don't make me confiscate the gun"

"I don't think getting it out of here will be a problem" the red head raised his eyebrow.

"Here" The huge bald man tied the rope to the collar. "It's just like taking a dog a walk."

For some reason, she didn't want to claw the huge man to death. He rubbed her head amiably, feeling the new fluffy growth on her hide. They watched her bounce beside him as he led her away, looks of puzzlement on their faces.


	19. Why cant you just DIE?

He slid into the basement room, wincing in agony as each of his muscles voiced their pain. Jagged colours sliced into his eyes, permeating his brain until all he could focus on was the lightning flashes of pain, blocking out all other senses, feelings and emotions. He continued to drag himself along by his fingertips, scrabbling noises accompanying him, the whine as the soles of his boots squeaked along the polished floor. Finally he made it to the desk.

Rooting in the drawers, his arm so heavy and numb, the tingling in his wrist and fingertips ticklish but not funny. His files were gone.

Cold dread settled on his back, weighing him down even further. Causing his hand to slip from the drawer and settle beside him as it pushed him into the floor, the cold and polished stone greeting him like an old friend as it soothed the ache in his face. Blue bruises, green gashes, black blood.

The first aid kit, teetering on the lip of the drawer, fell. Clattering it sounded obscenely loud, the rolling noise as the plastic rolls of tape bounded their way merrily across the floor. Bandages smelling of the antiseptic lotion landed next to his nose. He inhaled the soothing scent. The potion, his emergency stash. The one thing that would cure him again shattered next to his arm. The sparkle lighting up the air, the strange whistling, chirping noise as it set to work. Wriggling around, he looked like a worm in its death throes as he tried to sup the potion from the floor.

Finally he lay still again, in a slumber. His tongue ragged and red from slurping off the floor. The potion working in his system, ingested with stray mud, fluff and other titbits the boots of the men had left behind. His body bathed in a clean glow as the potion healed the ruptured blood vessels, soothed the torn muscles and ligaments and stitched up the bullet holes. The electrical burns remained until last, finally fading. The sparkles in the air dropping to the floor and burning out as the potion finished its task.

All the while his mind was working, plotting his next scheme…

Hojo was not one to be defeated so easily.


	20. For Tiramisu of Impending Doom

"But sir"

"NO BUTS"

"But.. but … but"

"I SAID NO BUTS! JUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"

"We can't sir… we've tried everything!"

"WELL TRY SOMETHING ELSE! YOU CALL YOURSELF SCIENTISTS!"

Hojo paced the floor, his face red, his lips flecked with foam. Miss Harper was trying to wheel out of his way, her squeakiness irritating him further.

"Sir, why don't you research it yourself?" the bruised and battered assistant spoke up. Warm hands… he looked terrible. He had led the Turks to the animal, had wanted to see her safe. Now he had heard rumours that Rufus was ordering her to be dissected. He had delivered her from one evil to another.

"BECAUSE…!" Hojo wasn't about to admit he could not find a cure to his problem. Instead he lashed out, beating the assistant. Rendering him unconscious he ordered his remaining lackeys to lock him in the airing cupboard until he could think what to do with him.

"Our resources are limited" Miss Harper went on, they were currently hiding out in her grandmother's house. The old lady shipped off to a nursing home in Mideel.

"I DON'T CARE JUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" he foamed even more, getting it over the carefully chosen, crushed rose carpet.

"Another fact Sir" she paused, "You haven't exactly clarified what "IT" is"

There was a fumbling noise and Hojo unzipped his trousers.

"OH!" Miss Harper wheeled backwards in shock.

"Exactly" Hojo was quiet, dangerous. "So get something done"

"Yes… yes sir" she wheeled off, squeaking loudly as she hurried.

Hojo turned and looked in the full length mirror. Sighing he cupped his penis in his hand, examining it. It was now a bright purple, almost akin to the colour that obnoxious Violet Beauregarde from that stupid film he had been made to watch… Charlie and the chocolate factory… stupid Johnny Depp with his gorgeous eyes… even with the purple contact lenses….

Wincing he noticed the split that had appeared in his skin, it looked as if his genitals were separating, trying to escape from his body. Sighing he got out his kit, he would have to stitch the gap up.


	21. What to do

"A sin against nature" Vincent stood by the glass enclosure, one hand pressed flat against the cold pane, his claw on his gun. "I could end this in five seconds flat"

"You've said that about ten times in the last hour. You're getting boring"

"yeah, besides I think its kinda cool. It would make a great pet" Reno nudged Rude. "hey, we'd have less work to do if we could get this beast on our side"

"Shut up" Rude went back to playing Snake on his phone. He was getting an all time personal best score. There was a scratching sound, and the glass door leading to the enclosure opened. A muffled curse and Tseng appeared.

"Well boss? What's happening?" Reno noted that the guy was clearly not happy… then again with Tseng it was hard to tell his moods. He was colder than an iceberg with a look that could sink the titanic.

"We've established that the beast is female, and shares close genetic ties with the missing rookie Turk." He removed his shoes. "And I need a new pair of shoes." Grimacing he wiggled his toes, holes in his socks from where the beast had bitten through his expensive Italian leather shoes.

"I'm sure Rufus will cough up for more. All in the line of duty" Rude put his phone away. "How much longer do we have to guard it?"

"Not for much longer, Rufus has plans for her"

"Destroying her?" Vincent looked hopeful. He liked the idea of wrecking Hojo's hard work. The small flame of maliciousness inside his mind.

"No, she will be trained up as a replacement Dark nation" Tseng slipped his feet into the shoddy work boots a rookie brought him. "Rufus wishes you to take care of her actually, he feels with your background and the fact you are Chaos as well…." He tailed off. "It's an order from the president. You cant disobey it"

"…" Vincent gave a look that made the two Turks back away. You could see the madness behind the cold glare. The madness that took over when he transformed, turning him into a merciless killing machine. Tseng wasn't fazed. He merely smirked slightly.

"I take it you don't think you're up to the challenge. Then again old timers like yourself…" he left the rest unsaid.

"I'll train the damn beast" Vincent immediately felt dirty. He didn't like using swear words. Cid usually swore enough for all of them.

"So is she getting a name?" Reno tapped the glass, watching the beast idly batting a large coloured ball around with her paws. "We can't keep calling her the beast all the time"

"Her name is to be Dark Phoenix" Tseng scratched his head. "Apparently a tribute to Dark Nation and to Rufus' favourite Summons… Phoenix"

"…. Isn't she the chick from X-men? Jean Grey? I always thought she was hot" Reno grinned.

"Behaviour I'd expect from you" Tseng rolled his eyes, "Immature to a fault" He turned on his heel and strode away. "Get back to work" he threw the command over his shoulder as the door slid shut behind him.

"Game of cards anyone?" Rude extracted the pack from his pocket. "Big money"

"Fine, as long as its not strip poker, I think everyone's seen enough of my luscious ass" Reno pulled a crate over to serve as a table. Vincent merely glared some more at the beast.


	22. Thief in the night

"What did I do to deserve such hatred?" She asked herself as she lay curled up on the thin bit of blanket. The room she was in was barren. The cement floor pockmarked with air bubbles and drag marks from where heavy machinery or furniture had been moved. A boiler in the corner chuntered at her, its hollow clanging noises had startled her at first, but over the two weeks she had been here, she had become used to them. She now saw the boiler as some sort of companion. There was a tiny window set high up near the ceiling. It let in the red glow of the sunset. Soon Vincent would come for her, to take her out into the large park. Her job was to clean up the scum, the drug dealers, the paedophiles….

They tasted as bad as they sounded. Their blood was inferior, a strange quality to it that made her gag as it trickled down her throat. Shinra pumped her full of drugs, scientists constantly mixing chalky pills in with her ground meat, injecting her with fluids while she slept, droplets of liquid being rubbed into cuts on her skin… They had changed her once more.

She could think clearly, and whilst in the cage alone by day had even practiced a shaky word. "Hello" it had come out like a howl at first, but the word could be heard through the strange grating animal noise.

She had tried it out on Vincent… but he had angered at her attempt to sound human and had disciplined her severely. He looked at her with loathing, even if she did well in her training. He didn't have a nice word to say to her at all. What had she done to offend him so?

Sighing she rose on two legs. Something she had been able to do for a while now and walked to the tiny window. Rising up on the balls of her feet she peeked out of the bottom of the glass. She could see cement, the walls of houses, and the stones on the pavement and if she angled herself just right, she could make out the sky above. A thin sliver that gave her hope. She remained, staring at the cement as it changed from pink tinged to deep blue black. Night had fallen and Vincent still hadn't come for her.

She needed her walk each day. Needed to be out in the fresh air. But tonight, unknown to her, Vincent had decided to punish her further. He had seen her rise on two legs, staring out the window at a place she could never walk in daylight. At things she could never have again. Bathed in the moonlight one night, she had looked strangely human. Her features cast in light and shadows had looked more like a human profile, her body that of a lithe young woman disfigured by the claws and tail. It had angered him.

By the early morning, just before dawn broke she was crazy with boredome, her unused muscles tingling with a need to run free in open spaces, to stretch properly. She was clawing the stone walls, kicking up chunks of concrete. Vincent was asleep in the rooms upstairs. . . he didn't hear her growls of anger, her moans of despair as no one came to let her out. She stood again at the window, pressing her face to the glass. Trying to imagine something else other than the park and the victims she killed.

There was a scratching.

Someone was trying to open the heavy door to her room.

Dressed in black he picked the lock, smiling gleefully as the door clicked open. Silently he crept in, still smiling only to find an old boiler and what looked like a pile of blankets. Cursing he turned back, the bag of Vincent's possessions gripped in his hand. Guns, Ammunition, a few knick knacks he had gathered from grateful people. . .

She surveyed him with cold eyes, this man was a stranger. She could smell the vile blood pumping through his veins. She noticed he was carrying a bag of items smelling strongly of her master… a thief had broken in. A low growl and she crept out from under her blanket, stalking him as he rooted through drawers and cupboards.

"Nothing" the man had a low raspy voice as if he was suffering from a sore throat. He did not dare to venture upstairs; he knew the owner of the house would be asleep up there. Emptying the ornate cutlery into the bag he shrugged. He would get something for them at one of Wall Markets many cash converter shops.

There was a clatter as the cutlery spilled on the floor, the box of bullets bursting on impact, the contents rolling everywhere. The heavy thud of the guns coming to rest, still within the confines of the canvas bag. An unholy scream from the burgular who had literally soiled himself in fright as a heavy weight pushed his face into the floor, landing on his back and crushing the breath from his lungs.

Snarls punctuated the ripping of cloth as she clawed into his torso, her teeth at his neck. She could hear the thundering on the stairs as Vincent raced down them, sliding on the bullets he quickly regained his composure aiming the small handgun at the thiefs head.

She sank her teeth into his neck, ripping a chunk of skin from him, swallowing it as the salty blood spurted in torrents down her throat. The gagging soon followed and she had to stop, clambering off the dead guy to hock up the blood in the corner. Regurgitated blood dripped from her nostrils when she had done, a look of distaste on her face as she warily watched Vincent root through the canvas bag to reveal more of his belongings.

A cold breeze ran over his flesh as he realised the front door was open. Both man and beast twigged at the same time , a race to shut the door… he lost.

She was gone.


	23. Pursue and Retrieve

The city was best at night.

Everyone was inside, Hojos previous monsters had struck fear into the populus and had made Rufus enforce a 9pm to 9am curfew on the streets. Between 9pm and 9am no one was allowed out. They were to stay inside in the safety of their homes.

"Kitty"

She looked up, a child was hanging out of a ground floor window. A little girl dangling her toy moogle for the giant kitty to play with.

"Sarah, get away from the window! What have I told you?" The mother obviously, dragging the child in, the moogle dropping to the floor with a soft thud.

"but mommy!... There a kitty!" Sarah was protesting as her mum tucked her in to her princess Barbie duvet.

"what have I told you about making up stories?" her mother shook her head and clicked off the light, leaving the little girl to sigh and go to sleep.

Nyah picked up the moogle, it felt so soft and fluffy. Careful not to drool on it or to make too much noise she carefully placed it on the windowsill before continueing on her way.

Pools of light cast by streetlamps were soon broken by the ultra bright beam of the Shinra helicopter. The sound of men marching as Soldier was mobilized to find the missing beast.

She kept to the darkness, ever careful. Hiding in dustbins and in darkened doorways as men walked past.

"THERE SHE IS!" there was a shout behind her and she raced away. Skidding on the dirt track to behind the warehouses. The heavy thud of boots behind her as she weaved between boxes and crates previously discarded. Finding an open door she ducked in, hiding beneath the huge train carriages stored there.

"Surround the building, get a team in here to comb the area… in fact have several teams combing the area, she's in here, she wont get out" Vincent loaded his gun. "if anyone finds her, surround her and alert me. I know what to do with her" one bullet in his gun… that's all it would take.

She could smell the men all around her, finding a manhole cover underneath a carriage she began to work at moving it. Trying not to make a noise she urgently scraped at it, moving it slowly with her long claws. She could smell the men getting closer. She could sense they were well armed. And she knew that Vincent was in here somewhere and that he would kill her on sight.

"The area is sealed off sir, the teams are working methodically searching every square inch. Theres no chance she'll escape from here" the seargant bowed slightly as he addressed Tseng.

"And where is Vincent?"

"I'm here" Vincent leapt down from his vantage point on top of a carriage. "what do you want?"

"The president still wishes for Dark Phoenix to be kept alive. In these times of beasts he feels it would be beneficial for Shinra to have such a creature at their disposal. I have the order to confiscate your weapons"

"no" Vincent's eyes glowed. "over my dead body"

Tseng rolled his eyes and electrocuted Vincent with Reno's nightstick. "Take his weapons and drag him into our base carriage until he recovers"

"yes sir" Reno looked slightly bemused, Vincent's hair had turned into a rather impressive afro.


	24. Waiting to escape

The heavy manhole cover moved exctuitatingly slowly. Each time the metal grated she flinched waiting for someone to hear and come for her. Already she had heard them shooting rats not so far away from her hiding place.

"I should be out searching, what if it proves to be dangerous?" Vincent was bored, three hours had passed and they still hadn't covered over half the area. There were a lot of nooks and crannies that a beast could hide in, a lot of dark corners and shady carriages neglected for months. Door mechanisms seized up with damp and windows clouded with films of dust. The beast was at a distinct advantage.

"We're supposed to stay in here until someone finds it" Rude stretched, "Tseng is supervising from the other end"

"yeah, I've rigged the locks so he has to hammer to get in" Reno pulled down some shades at the many windows. "wheres the booze Rude?"

"got it" Rude reached under a seat and pulled out the bottle of Jack Daniels he'd hidden there. "Never come unprepared" he grinned.

The cover moved enough so she could squeeze under it. The smell was disgusting. Leaping down she landed in the repulsive green frothy water. Gagging she spat, shudders starting in her stomach as she wanted to vomit. Looking up she could still hear soldiers patrolling ever closer. Picking a direction she ran, not knowing how long it would be before someone would pursue her.

Huge stone tunnels, metal grates twisting out of the water like wizened fangs. Monsters guarded each new section of waterways patrolling with rusty but sharp looking forks. She attacked few, preferring to concentrate on sneaking past, engaging in battle only when she needed to.

The dim lights were hurting her eyes, the wading through sections of dirty water was irritating her skin. The smell and the taste made her want to gag but she carried on regardless, stepping over rotten corpses of monsters long dead and feasted upon by the rats.

The sewers got narrower and darker. Soon there was no light at all. As she waded through water that was stagnant and no longer flowing she could hear the scurrying of the occasional rat. Apart from that this tunnel seemed to be deserted.

Shivering as it got colder she could see something in the distance. A chink of light? As she drew closer, the chink widened into a small pool of light, its circular surface marred by the shadows of beams and wreckage. Clambering up the broken struts of the steel ladder she struggled between chunks of concrete and struts of metal. A shred of material fluttered in her face. Deep blue in colour, she could smell Soldier embedded deep within the fibres.

The ruins of Midgar.

After climbing to the top of a pile of rubble she could see it. The sister ray cannon draped in flowers. The old Shinra building, most of the floors still standing, other landmarks that she recognised. Clambering down the pile she headed to find some shelter. The darkening clouds above signalled a storm and she needed somewhere to lick her wounds clean. The metal in the debris had shredded into her skin, blood mingling with rapidly drying sewage water.

"We think the beast escaped down this manhole. It leads into the Edge sewer system, there's no telling where it will be now" Tseng circled the spot on the map.

"I want her found" Rufus moved his coffee cup to take a closer look. "I want plans of the sewer system, we need to check all the places she can escape them from."

"Yes sir" Tseng bowed respectfully and left to chase up the planning department.


	25. Monster?

There was an eerie silence surrounding her as she carefully wound her way around broken slabs of concrete, twisted struts of metal and the ruins of the largest city in the world. The stench of death and decay was all around her.

Bleached bones stuck out from underneath fallen bricks. The flesh picked clean by vultures, crows and other carrion feasting animals.

She clambered over bricks and sheet metal, small pebbles bouncing off, rattling to the floor. She made her way as if by instinct, to the heart of the city.

The Shinra tower.

It still stood tall in the centre of the ruins. Many of its interior rooms were intact. Structural damage was limited to the outsides of the huge building.

She limped across the plaza in front of the building; you could still see the Shinra symbol blazing on the fallen front wall.

"I used to work for them" The human voice reverberated in her head. "They were my friends."

She continued into the building, making her way up the twisting stair case. She knew this building like the back of her hand. She had been here, worked here before the fall of meteor.

She yowled softly, her chest felt so tight; she just wanted to curl up and never wake up again.

The huge glass windows had long since disintegrated from the heat of the meteor. She sat at the huge open window, looking out over the twinkling lights of Edge and the smaller cluster of twinkling lights that signified the village of Kalm.

Kalm had once been the home of her beloved grandfather.

Tears dripped from her eyes as she thought about him.

How could she ever go back to her family now? She was nothing more than a monster.

She looked down, the drop was pretty high. All she needed to do was take one more step, one tiny step and she would hurtle to the ground. She would be free of this body, free of the pain that still ran through her.

She would no longer be a monster.


	26. getting closer

The wind seemed to blow more harshly in this place, as if nature was punishing the skeletons of Midgar for causing the planet so much pain in the past.

The scent of the flowers was carried on the wind, covering up the smell of damp and decay as the city rotted into the ground.

This was where Avalanche was born, where Shinra had ruled the world. Mako reactors had encircled the city, draining the planet of its energy, causing the earth around Midgar to become black and stony, like dead skin covering a wound.

This was where the beast was, hiding within the shattered structures, the battleground, the war between the planet and a celestial body from space.

Vincent rested his hand on his gun. Cerberus was the most powerful handgun in the world to date. This gun would be the one to end that monstrous life. The abomination of nature.

He followed the signs. The stupid animal was too brain dead to cover her tracks. Pools of sewage from her paws led him in her direction. Claw marks in bricks, scratches on metal left a trail for him to follow. It was too easy.

He could see from the blood spattering the tracks that she would be too weak to fight him, she was probably curled up somewhere in hiding, waiting for her wounds to heal.

He was ignoring Rufus' order to bring her back alive. He had sent the Soldiers accompanying him on a wild goose chase to Kalm. He didn't answer to Shinra; he was a mercenary who worked for whoever paid him. Usually Reeve and the WRO.

Only this time, he wanted to destroy all Hojo's hard work. He couldn't believe that the scientist had once more come back from beyond the grave. He had thought that Shinra had erased any biometric data left on the computer systems, but no. Hojo had come back, this time in human form.

A low mournful yowl was borne to him on the wind, he looked up at the looming form of the Shinra tower and started to climb the steep slope of the fallen plate. Rubble and chunks of plate made a good stairway to the upper section of Midgar. He tried not to think about the bodies buried beneath him.


	27. A little chapter for Tiramisu!

This was the scene of one of his greatest triumphs.

The platform of the Sister Ray cannon, high atop the Shinra building.

He had overridden the controls and fired the cannon directly at the barrier over the northern crater. It had disappeared, leaving Sephiroth free to wreak his destruction on the planet.

Unfortunately that boorish idiot Valentine had killed him… or killed his human form. He remembered the feeling of the bullet to the back of his head, blood seeping over the control panel. The cold sensation as if his blood was being replaced by ice water.

The panel had short circuited, sending electric shocks through his prone body. He could hear that irritating Yuffie calling on Vincent. When they had left he had dragged his half dead body off the panel, slumping on the floor.

He couldn't remember much after that. Just blackness that had overtaken him, until he had awakened again as a digital form.

He clambered down the twisted metal staircase, savouring the sound of his shoes scraping against metal. He had stolen his boots from a Hells Angel that had told him he looked funny. The Hells Angel had ended up in one of the tanks of corrosive acid. It was funny, only his piercings survived, clustered in a pile at the bottom of the tank.

He knew that the specimen was here. He could smell her, a disgusting mix of sewage, sweat, dried blood and monster residue. In his pocket he carried a shock collar, higher voltage and remote controlled.

He needed to take her back.

The Soldiers stormed a house in Kalm. Neighbours had told them that suspicious activities were happening in the ordinary looking semi detached property.

The old lady that lived there hadn't been seen for a while. A lot of men were visiting and one lady even said that she had seen a freakish monster with wheels for legs at the window.

The next door neighbour reported loud noises at all times of day and night. Screaming and shouting. She was considering moving.

They stormed the rooms, finding lab equipment spread over oak tables, plush sofas piled high with files and notes.

Jars of noxious fluid lined shelves in the pantry, little life forms bobbed inside.

They killed many of the assistants who tried to resist them. Out of all of them only Miss Harper and a handful of men were bundled into the Shinra van. There was no sign of the beast, and there were signs that Hojo was dead.

One of the Soldiers brought in a jar. It contained a shrivelled purple penis with a shrunken set of testicles. It was labelled "Hojo".


	28. Is she a victim?

She sat with her feet dangling over the side of the concrete parapet. Her ears twitching.

She could hear footsteps faintly, as if they were a couple of floors above her.

She could jump now, end everything.

No more punishments for having human characteristics.

No more training to slaughter people and to taste their tainted blood.

No more Vincent.

She would never need to go back to seeing the hatred and the disgust in those glinting crimson eyes.

No more Hojo.

No more torture and sick twisted punishments cooked up by an insane man.

No more rape.

Just endless peace and quiet as she became one with the planet. Perhaps her spirit energy would become something better, something more worthwhile than she had been.

She took a deep breath. It was amazing how calm she felt. The prospect of death held little fear for her. She didn't feel like an animal anymore. She almost felt… human.

He watched her from his hiding place high above her. He was crouched in the recess of an old wall, hidden by the shadows and cobwebs. In this strange light of evening, she looked almost… human.

He could see the human form, buried within the beast. The slender girl who had been turned into something unholy.

As the moon began to rise, the darkness seemed to fall quickly, like velvet curtains. In the moonlight she was eerily beautiful. In the moonlight he could actually see the ghostly form of her human self, as if someone had drawn her, leaving the pencil sketch marks on the paper beneath the inked final piece.

He could see where she used to have hands, feet. Where she used to have long flowing hair that had a tendency to curl. He could see her face, unmarred by a broken snout.

Wasn't she just like him? A victim of Hojo and his sick and twisted experiments?

His thoughts were broken by the sinister laugh of the man himself.

Hojo had found her.


	29. I see the Moon

His cackling soon ceased. She wasn't even acknowledging his prescence.

"I see the moon

And the moon sees me

Holy bless the moon

And Holy bless me…"

The voice that sang this simple childrens rhyme was tinged with sadness. Hojo was incredulous. How could she talk? He wracked his brain, thinking back to all of the drugs and potions he had given her.

Had one worn off?

She already seemed more human to him. Like the beast was fading from her. She certainly thought like a human. If she was truly a beast she would have attacked, or ran and hid by now.

Instead she was singing a childish nursery rhyme.

"Get away from her." Vincent leapt down, his hair grey with cobwebs. She was essentially a victim of Hojo, and as such he should protect her from him. His gun was drawn.

Hojo merely glanced at him. His interest was in the fireflies that had started to hover around the beast. She wasn't even looking at them, her head sinking into her chest as if she was simply tired of living.

She looked like she had given up.

The fireflies were filling the air with their surreal glow. They hovered on the wind, looking like so many sparkling Christmas tree lights.

Amongst their warm glow were the sparkling fragments of magic.

Hojo had a flashback to the first time he had cut her open. He had sliced into her, loving the way her sallow, pasty human flesh had parted to reveal her slick bloody internal organs.

He had noted at the time, the blackened membranes that were growing over her organs, turning them into something more animal like, akin to something like a wolf. As he closed her up he had saw a glistening shard of materia embedded on one of her ribs.

Was it this internal materia that was causing those sparks of magic?

He had no time to reflect on this. As he got ever closer to the still form, Vincent launched his attack.


	30. Demise

A fluttering of red cloth, the sound of a bullet thudding into concrete.

The two men grappled with each other, Chaos aiding Vincent and Jenova helping Hojo.

As Vincent looked into those cold green eyes, Hojo started to change forms, his skin melting away to reveal a smooth violet tinged hide, covered in green oozing pus spots.

Yellow claws snaked out of his fingertips as he slashed at Vincent in an attempt to stop him throttling him. Vincent's gun was kicked aside, skidding across the floor. It was useless; he had loaded it with only one bullet.

Blood spattered on the cold floor, Hojo reeling from the Melee attack Vincent had just hit him with. Hojo summoned his beasts; they appeared in a flash of light from capsules he kept buried in his lab pocket.

Nyah looked up… so that's what happened to her children.

Vincent made short work of them, lunging for his gun and attempting to reload it as Hojo hit him with attack after attack. His claws shredded through Vincent's skin, jabbed through his side and left a nasty wound that bled profusely.

He loaded his gun and fired, Hojo falling backwards.

Blood seeped out from the back of his head, a massive hole there where his skull used to be. Only a little black bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. It reminded Vincent of Tseng.

It wasn't enough to kill the madman though. It only stunned him. He soon leapt to his feet again, fangs bared as he attacked Vincent with the severity and madness of a rabid dog.

There were muffled curses and screams as the fight continued. Blood spattered everywhere, dripping down the walls and pooling on the floor. Parts of Hojo twitched and writhed on the concrete, dissolving in pools of their own acid.

Nyah covered her ears. The screams coming from Hojo as Vincent beat him back were unholy.

Finally there was silence.

A mako infused bullet to the brain. It dissolved the body in less than a minute.

All that was left was a pool of ominous looking liquid.

He brushed the dust of fighting from his cloak and went to the window platform. Hunkering down next to the beast, he disturbed the fireflies and their ethereal glow. She looked up at him, her green tinged eyes looked so human.


	31. Two little words

"Kill me"


	32. Butterflies

Vincent looked away.

He stood up, pacing to the other side of the window, looking out over Midgar. He couldn't kill her. She wasn't a monster.

Hojo was gone. Without him, she posed no threat to anyone. He would return her to Shinra; they would train her to fight, to protect the president just like Dark Nation.

She would be safer there.

There was a little gasp and the fluttering of a thousand tiny wings. The fireflies had dispersed.

Lost, they fluttered in different directions, their light growing dimmer.

Only the broken streetlights patchily illuminated the building.

She was standing with her back to the window, studying the puddle that had used to be Hojo. He opened his mouth to say something, anything to break the silence that had descended on them.

With a little sigh she pitched herself backwards.

Racing to the edge he could only look on as she plummeted towards the earth below.

It seemed like it was slow motion.

The fireflies seemed to congregate around her again, the green light of magic lighting her descent. She was smiling now; the beast form was fluttering away from her, darkened butterflies skimming through the air.

Her ears, tail and paws shattered into a thousand tiny black butterflies who escaped into the night air.

They fluttered around his face, bumping into his cheeks and skin as he watched her hit the ground. They left a powdery purple black residue. He looked like he had been up a chimney.

Scrabbling to his feet, he raced to get to her. Hoping against hope that she would be alive somehow.


	33. Darkness

It was like stepping off the curb to cross the street.

She knew what she was doing; she couldn't live amongst them like this. She was too much of an animal to live amongst humans, and too human to live with the animals.

She was a freak, a monster, a fraud.

She felt the cold air at her back as she stepped off the platform. The wind caught at her, it seemed to support her as she plunged to the ground.

The last thing she saw were the hundreds of fireflies lighting her way, and Vincent's horrified gaze.

He no longer looked at her like she was something to hate and destroy.

His eyes were softer; he actually looked like he wanted to save her. His arm was outstretched, grabbing at thin air.

Then the world around her seemed to pop like a soap bubble and she was plunged into a cold darkness. She was aware of nothing, just the darkness closing in.


	34. If only she could fly

She lay there on a patch of bare concrete, surrounded by rubble piled so high it had taken him a while to reach her.

She was laid on her back, her arms outstretched as if she thought she could fly.

Her golden brown hair was blood soaked, blood pooled around her head like an obscene halo. Her eyes were open, she was smiling.

She was naked; he could see the many scars that covered her body. Hojo had left his mark.

Vincent closed her eyes and took off his cloak. Covering her up he scooped up her lifeless form and began the long journey back to Shinra HQ.

Rufus would want to know what happened to his beast and his Turk.


End file.
